SWING: Muthaiga's Evans Vitisia tees off during the Dasani Golf Gala Muthaiga leg last weekend

By KGG CORRESPONDENT
The 18-hole-par 72 Sigona Golf Course will this weekend play host to the Dasani Golf Gala which has become a popular championship in the country. The sixth event on the Gala calendar at Sigona in Kikuyu follows events at Kiambu, Limuru, Vetlab, Machakos and Muthaiga.

Over 200 golfers have registered to compete for the four slots up for grabs at the event that includes members of the Sigona Golf Club and guests drawn from Coca-Cola and Nairobi Bottlers Company Offices.

Speaking on phone from Sigona, the Club Captain Dan Mugo said that the club was looking forward to hosting the exciting event on the golfing calendar. “My club members started registering as early as March and so far I can say I have over subscriptions.”  The excited Mugo added that the he had some very interesting four balls that would make Saturday’s play very exciting.

“The Gala played in the team format is very well embraced in Sigona and I can testify that the format promotes bonding as well as good boosting on the course as it favors the low handicappers,” said Mugo.

The golf Gala has adopted the team qualification format that has now gained immense popularity as the format in Kenya’s golfing fraternity participating in the biggest golf series-Dasani Golf Gala.

Sigona Golf Club is reputed to have some of the most beautiful lush and verdant fairways in Kenya; the hilly course provides a tough but very pleasant 18 holes of golf.

Among the top teams vying for the qualification slots are those of John Ndichu, Michael Njoroge, Mwaura Kariuki and George Mwaura.

Former Kenya International Deep Shah will team up with the Vice Captain Kamal Shah, Baiju Savani and Imran Nanji while the club captain Dan Mugo plays with Peter Warui, Chris Kimani and Peter Kiguru.

The winning team in the Dasani Golf  Gala will win an all expenses paid trip to the TOUR Championship, Presented by Coca-Cola, to be held at the East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, USA. The winners will get to play on some of the most prestigious golf course on the PGA Tour including the TPC SugarLoaf and the TPC SawGrass. They will also tour the headquarters of the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta.

The Gala will visit the Thika Sports Club on 4th of June where members of Thika, Ruiru and Makuyu will compete for three qualification slots to the Grand Finale. michael kors handtasche sale michael kors handtasche sale

LONG HITTER: Mumias pro golfer Dismas Indiza follows his tee shot at the Kigali Golf Club on the first round of the 5th Leg fo the KCB Golf Tour. He finished the first round tied on position five.

By JAPHETH KAGUNDU in Kigali

Vet Lab’s Ali Kimani displayed outstanding golf afterhe sunk six birdies to romp home 5 under par 67 taking the lead on day one ofthe KCB Rwanda Open in Kigali Golf Club, Rwanda.

Ali, who teed off at 9am (Rwanda time) in the company of Ethiopia’s Gabriele Haile and Rwanda’s EmanuelRuterana, only dropped a shot on par four hole seven to upstage fellow elitepros from the region.

Surprisingly, Ali has never pared the famous hole seven for the three years he has played at the course. He drove to the trees, laid up, hit a third shot with a wedged but two putted for a bogey. Ali who attributed his win to his good swing, embarked on the outward nine with a par followed bytwo birdies on holes two and three.

He then pared the fourth, fifth, eighth, ninth, dropped a shot on the seventh but recovered with a birdie on hole six to finish 2 under par 33 in the outward nine. At the inward nine, Ali continued with the streak of pars on the tenth, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth. In addition he fired birdies on the eleventh, seventeenth and eighteenth to propel his score to 3 under par 34 on the inward nine for atotal of 5 under par 67 in the four- day event of the KCB East African Golf Tour.

Following closely was Rwanda’s Emmanuel Ruterana who showed signs of staging a tough challenge after he brought home 3 under par 69 in the now renowned KCB regional elite golfers event. Ruterana, who was playing at home never dropped a shot in the scenic par 72 course in the middle of Kigali, Rwanda.

At the first nine, he pared all the holes except for hole six where he sunk a birdie to collect 1 under par34. At the back nine, he repeated the same feat of pars on all holes with the exception of a birdie on hole seventeen to amass 2 under par 35 for a total of3 under 69. Muthaiga’s Nicholas Rokoine and Greg Snow the winner of round twoof the tour both tied with 2 under par 70. Long-hitter Dismas Indiza, who recently won the KCB Bank Arusha tour faced the challenging course to return level par securing himself the fifth postion. Indiza tied on the position with left-hander Richard Ainley, Nyanza’sDavid Odhiambo, Hardeep Thethy and Rwanda’s John Baptiste all who played levelpar. James Lorum and and SA based Anil Shah finished 1 over par 73 followed byNjuguna Ngugi and Charan Thethy with 2 over par 74.

The stage is now set for stiff competition on day two of the event that attracted over 34 elite professional golfers from the region and one from Ethiopia all fighting for the Kshs 1 million prize fund on offer from KCB Bank. cgparkaoutlet cgparkaoutlet